WHISTLER — Fifteen women advanced out of the single-run Nations Cup luge qualifier this week into Saturday’s FIL World Cup race. None were quite as happy, though, as a young woman who won’t get that chance.

Jenna Spencer, who lives in rural Mount Currie and is in Grade 12 at Whistler secondary school, recorded a personal best time of 37.319 on the Whistler Sliding Centre track. She was ninth fastest among the 33 sliders from 17 countries seeking to join the top-seeded group of 10.

Often described as the first legacy baby of the Vancouver/Whistler 2010 Olympic venues, the diminutive 17-year-old is still a junior and not one of the four women the Canadian Luge Association had pre-designated to compete here.

But after participating in training runs Wednesday and Thursday with the likes of German stars Natalie Geisenberger and 2010 gold medallist Tatjana Hufner and Calgarian Alex Gough, a 12-time World Cup medallist, Spencer took advantage of a track made lightning fast by the minus-10 C temperatures and clear skies to rip off a run nearly 2/10ths of a second better than her previous best.

She was just .031 behind Arianne Jones of Calgary, who is in her fourth year on the World Cup circuit and who was eighth at last year’s world championships.

“It’s the vibe, it’s the mood, I got so into it,” said the impressive prospect who was second in the Youth A division of the Junior World Cup circuit last season. “I’m thrilled. I just wanted to kill it.

“It gives you a little sneak peak of what you want in your future, what I want to work towards. I want to race against Alex, compete against women who are twice my age. I want to go out there and kick some butt.”

Given her age and the need to mature physically and get more experience on European tracks, Spencer won’t be competing on the World Cup circuit for at least a year and probably two. But considering her obvious talent, that could still leave her enough time to meet her goal of not only getting to the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, but being a medal contender.

“That’s the return on the investment, that’s what we’re going to be judged on and what we strive for, is to be developing that next generation of athletes,” says Roger Soane, CEO of Whistler Sports Legacies, which manages the sliding centre, the Whistler Olympic Park Nordic facilities and the Whistler Athlete’s Centre.

“That will be how we’re measured as a facility. I can’t develop those athletes. All I can do is give them the field of play that is the best it can be … but we still need great coaches, great parents and funding.”

Ah yes, the financial resources to ensure sustainability.

In the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013, it cost nearly $6.8 million for WSL to run its three venues, which generated revenue of $3.15 million. The Games Operating Trust, set up specifically to help finance the legacy venues made up a large chunk of the shortfall. The provincial government, as it has since 2010, covered the remainder through a transition grant. But the most recent agreement with Victoria — $2.7 million over three years — expires in March, 2015.

“We hope we don’t have to keep going back and asking for money, especially for operations,” says Soane.

He hopes that administrative cuts and increased revenue generation — season pass revenue was up eight per cent and day pass revenue up 15 per cent last year at WOP — can eventually lead to a break-even on operations.

Creating a healthy capital fund for infrastructure improvements will be a far bigger challenge.

But 25 years after the 1988 Calgary Olympics, that city’s Canada Olympic Park, which houses the country’s only other sliding track, is still operational even though it runs at a loss.

An agreement this week between WSL, the Canadian Luge Association and Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton to designate the Whistler track as a national training centre will allow all three bodies to combine resources to raise the track’s profile. They’ll also share strategies on long-term financial goals.

“It’s critical we succeed in both Whistler and Calgary,” says Walter Corey, the CLA’s high-performance director. “(Whistler) is a wonderful facility, a real challenge for our athletes and having them on it as much as we do allows us to succeed.”

Soane met last week in Calgary with officials of FIBT, the international governing body for bobsleigh and skeleton, urging it to put more events in North America. He’d like to see a minimum of two World Cup sliding events in Whistler every year.

While WOP generates revenue through corporate events, recreational sports events like the Tough Mudder, weddings and TV and movie filming, the sliding centre’s main revenue generation is through international races and public sliding programs for skeleton and bobsleigh.

Last year, revenue from public sliding was up 42 per cent over the previous year. “We did 3,300 slides and I’ve challenged our staff to do 5,000 this year,” says Soane, noting that the track is open eight hours a day, six months a year.

“People love to go up a mountain and do crazy things. Sliding is one of those things.”

On the competitive side, B.C. Luge has about 30 young sliders in various development programs, with four or five athletes in contention to join Spencer on the Junior World Cup circuit in January. The final selection races go next weekend in Calgary.

Corey said the CLA is thrilled with Spencer’s development.

“It’s pretty obvious in our sport when you start tracking at the age she’s at with the success she’s already had, there will be an opportunity to succeed later.”

Two B.C. skeleton athletes — Jane Channell, a former SFU softball player and track athlete from North Vancouver, and Patrick Ronney — will race on the second-tier Intercontinental Cup circuit this winter.

“In talking with the sliding sports, they’re really keen to start a stronger development program in (bobsleigh/skeleton) in Whistler,” said Soane. “But the challenging thing is that unlike luge, people don’t normally start skeleton until their late teens and, in bobsleigh, even later that. They generally come over from other sports (like track or football).”

“But we’re working with B.C. Bobsleigh and Pat (Brown, recruiting director) about possibly starting a bobsleigh driving school and have that in place for next year. There could even be a corporate program where you can come and drive a bobsleigh as well.”

Soane, who believes all his venues can help in getting kids active and reducing child obesity, said he’s confident the WSL is fulfilling its mandate to keep the Olympic legacy alive and allow high-performance athletes to thrive.

“My goal in 20 years time, is to ensure (the venues) are here and being used and turning out athletes who can win Olympic medals.”

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